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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 3 75 that well — I don't know what was going on — but I had called each of the coaches at least once," Hardin said. "And we were trying, but they couldn't get service. Then, I finally got hold of one of them; I think once they realized that I really wanted to talk to them, they had a feeling that that's what I was going to be doing." Purdue was glad to make the connection, because now it can feel good knowing it'll soon have one of the state's — if not the state's — best shooters. With a range that easily extends five feet beyond the three-point line, and perhaps farther, Hardin can stretch defenses. Through Center Grove's first 11 games this season, Hardin was averaging team highs of 12.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She'd made 25 three-pointers, hit- ting them at about a 38-percent rate. But the numbers might not tell the whole story; at Cen- ter Grove, the 5-9 Hardin is the Trojans' second-tallest player, forcing her into the paint more often than might be ideal. "She plays with a really nice AAU group (Indiana Flight) with really talented players and on that team, her role is primarily to shoot, (and) she does some other things," Sanders said. "But then she comes to Center Grove and we don't have the same core of people, espe- cially her sophomore year. … I sat her down then and said, 'OK, Cass, we need a lot more out of you than just to be a shooter.' Because she was going to be our biggest player, she was going to be a ballhandler and a playmak- er, she was going to have to defend the post. We put a ton on her and stretched her. "I'm sure there were times she was out of her com- fort zone and she accepted the challenge and honest- ly she really surprised me, especially with her post defense. She guarded some girls who are going to be some high-Division I players and she was just battling down there with them. And it's mostly because of her awareness, with how to play angles, positioning. She's not going to out-athlete a lot of those posts, not going to out-size them, but she can out-smart them and just plays. We've really had to push her and she's our lead- ing rebounder, leads us in assists, she leads us in all categories. "She's not just a shooter for us. She does a little bit of everything." Purdue fans got a bit of a preview of Hardin and Tray- lor on a chilly December evening south of Indianapolis, although the two weren't together but battling back and forth. It could be a very good combo. "It just amazes me how strong (Traylor) is and how well she gets into the paint," Sanders said. "We were talking as coaches and it's like, 'Stick Cass out there on the wing, and now Traylor does that and throw it out, and Cass has her feet set, her shoulders square, just pulls the trigger.' Oh my gosh, she's going to be unbelievable. "In AAU games, Cass plays with strong point guards and she gets eight, nine, 10 games where she's had dou- ble-figure three-point makes in a game. She can't get those (here), because everyone face-guards her. Traylor was face-guarding her. In high school, they all face-guard her, but they won't be able to do that in college." j Spring Help? The Boilermakers are likely to be in the spring mar- ket for point guard help. Starter Ashley Morrissette, pressed into duty there this season even though she's a natural off-guard, will graduate. Plus, reserve Tiara Murphy will be return- ing next season from ACL surgery — she had her left knee operated on Dec. 19, after tearing the ligament in a game 13 days earlier — leaving the Boilermakers short on known commodities. Freshman Miracle Gray played in only half of Purdue's first dozen games, and Leony Boudreau, who will be a rookie in 2017-18, is more of a combo guard than pure point. "We're looking," Versyp said. "We're looking to may- be bring in a fifth-year point guard, maybe a junior college (player), if that happens. If it doesn't, we have Murph, Leony and Miracle, so we have places (filled). But if we can have somebody who has some experi- ence, because (Murphy) is obviously missing a lot, (it will help). "But we'll see how it goes. We're not just going to find somebody just to find somebody. They'd have to come in and make an impact immediately." — Kyle Charters